Playing a home game about an hour away from their field, the Royals dropped a 6-4 decision to the Kingsport Mets in Appalachian League baseball Sunday afternoon at Wake Forest Baseball Park.

It was the team’s first action since four innings Wednesday night.

“Felt like we were flat as a pancake,” Royals manager Tommy Shields said, acknowledging that there were a few dozen onlookers. “It felt like an extended spring (training) game. … We’ve got to get back in the groove.”

The game was moved to Wake Forest Baseball Park’s all-artificial turf field because outfield conditions in recent days made Burlington Athletic Stadium unplayable and this guaranteed at least one game being played. The Royals had played a total of 27 innings in the previous seven days.

It was the Royals’ first game in North Carolina outside of Burlington. Less than two dozen Burlington fans made the trek. Wake Forest coach Tom Walter was on hand.

“It went all right,” Shields said. “Wish the result was different.”

An evening game in Burlington was called off, with team officials again citing a wet outfield. It marked the fourth consecutive night that games have been nixed since downpours caused a game with the Bluefield Blue Jays to be suspended after four innings.

Word came that the nightcap wouldn’t be played while the teams were en route back to Burlington. Now, there’s a doubleheader scheduled for 5 p.m. today in Burlington.

Before the postponement was announced, there were gripes coming from both sides about not playing two games in Winston-Salem.

The Mets had been postponed Thursday and Friday nights in Danville, Va., before joining the misery in Burlington.

“I know Burlington’s field is soaked,” Kingsport first baseman Jeff Diehl said, noting the Mets have made trips similar to Sunday’s to play nearby West Division rivals. “This is like a commuter game.”

The Royals were slow to start, though mostly undone by Kingsport’s five-run fifth inning. Burlington’s bats were quiet until late in the game.

“My timing was so bad because I hadn’t seen live pitching in like four days,” Royals first baseman Sam Bates said.

By the second inning, there was an injury when Royals left fielder Desmond Henry crashed into the wall pursuing Joe Tuschak’s opposite-field home run. Henry walked off on his own power, but came out of the game.

Shields said Henry shouldn’t be sidelined for an extended stretch, an encouraging revelation considering the nature of the impact. He suffered shoulder, side and knee soreness.

Burlington’s Alex Newman tied the game in the fourth inning with a two-out solo home run — his first career homer.

Page 2 of 2 - Yeixon Ruiz’s two-out double in the fifth inning broke a 1-1 tie, and Burlington starter Sam Lewis (1-2) didn’t finish the inning. Victor Curzado’s RBI single and Diehl’s two-out smack that was miscalculated by left fielder Jerrell Allen came off reliever Jake Newberry, pushing the Mets to a 6-1 lead.

Bates, who a day earlier asked if the Wake Forest facility had a “short porch,” went opposite field for a two-run shot to left field in the eighth inning as the Royals closed to within 6-4.

The Royals nearly made it closer after Newman’s one-out triple, but he was drawn into trying to score and thrown out at the plate after a wayward relay from the outfield.

In the bottom of the ninth, pinch hitter Chris Sweeney grounded out in his professional debut. He’s an undrafted signee out of Division II King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

His next gig might actually come in a professional stadium.

“I was pretty pleased to get to play at Wake,” Sweeney said. “Now I can say I played in a D-I ballpark, which I never did.”

Wake Forest provided game operations personnel to help. However, the scoreboard wasn’t in use — perhaps the ultimate home-field advantage for the Royals, who played a recent stretch of true home games without a functioning scoreboard.

Then it rained in the bottom of the sixth inning — something else most teams in the league are familiar with.

Appalachian League president Lee Landers attended the game. Landers, along with local Burlington front-office personnel and visiting Kansas City minor-league officials, expressed appreciation to Wake Forest for use of the facility.